Apartheid is synonymous in most people's minds with a virulent form of racial ideology and social engineering. Yet ideologies of racial domination and segregation long preceded apartheid, and cannot by themselves explain the shift in racial domination that apartheid involved. Focusing on the period 1935–1962, this collection explores the dynamics which molded apartheid.

“The editors…are among South Africa’s best-known historians and historical sociologists, and in an excellent introduction they underscore the contemporary relevance of their historical material. The collection is particularly valuable for its carefully documented attention to difference.”